In this essay I am going to explain why the government decided to evacuate British children from major cities, during the Second World War.

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Introduction

Samantha Yates 18th June 2003 History Coursework Evacuation question 1: In this essay I am going to explain why the government decided to evacuate British children from major cities, during the Second World War. I will assess my reasons and come to a final conclusion. Evacuation in is the removal of British Children in the Second World War. They were sent to the countryside's of England to be kept safe from any death or injuries in the cities. From the experience of the Spanish Civil War the British people were not willing to take any risks. This is one main reason for the evacuation. The Spanish Civil War was the first war to be the cause of death and injuries to the civilians; the loss of many children's lives in this war was horrific and unexpected. ...read more.

Middle

It was hard for parents to let their children go, even though they knew they were going to safety they wanted to stay with them. So at this time there was a lot of upset and loss from parents. As the government were not allowed to force parents to send their children away, they introduced propaganda. Everywhere in the cities there were posters and announcements persuading people to send their children to safety. However not every main city would have to be evacuated, Britain was divided into three sections: * Evacuation area - This was where most injuries and deaths were expected due to heavy bombing. * Neutral areas - These places feared only minor attacks and so nobody needed to be evacuated. * Reception areas - This was where most evacuees were sent to, the countryside's were safe from bombing and so the children lived here with local families. ...read more.

Conclusion

The people who already lived in the reception areas had to adapt to a new way of life and this caused a few problems for them. There was little organisation in the countryside; some people expecting children were receiving pregnant women instead and vice versa. Further on in the evacuation mothers were obviously missing their children and some even bought them home in the middle of the war. The government realised what was happening and produced more propaganda to tell parents to do the right thing and keep the children where they are. Some children loved where they were so much that they continued to live there after the war. Overall I think that the evacuation plan was a great success, although the estimated casualties and deaths were largely over exaggerated, it still kept many children from unnecessary harm. It was a good ides and has had a great affect in the Second World War. Samantha Yates ...read more.

The questions that I asked were answered correctly most of the time the main question I asked was 'what sound does it make?' also if I had time to spare I spoke about where the animal lives. The timing was suitable for the activity there was enough time to carry

Headmasters were finally allowed to reopen their schools to the public, even fewer schools than were expected were available for teaching. In London, out of the original six hundred and forty schools, three hundred were considered undamaged enough to be acceptable for reopening.

of information about the school can be found on the Liverpool City Council website I think that the school could improve the way it advertises itself, by distributing leaflets and having its own website. Also if the school had a prospectus in different languages it would help as more people

In general they would feel that evacuations were needed. If for example a building was bombed the civil defences would be working to keep people safe and get hurt people to hospital etc. But you would have children running around screaming and crying and basically getting in the civil defences' way.

idea of keeping them safe and protecting the next generation was the most important one. Word Count: 541 2. Explain the differing reactions of people in Britain to the policy of evacuating children during the Second World War.

Another possible reason to evacuate children from the cities may have been that, because of rationing, there would be shortages of food in the cities whereas fresh food would be more easily available in the countryside. So, in conclusion, there were many reasons Chamberlain had for the evacuation of England.

Over the following weekend, 827,000 school children, 524,000 mothers of pre-school children, 13,000 pregnant women, 7,000 blind and disabled and 103,000 teachers were evacuated. Two million people also made their own private arrangements for evacuation to places such as North America, although this figure is not exact.